Chocolates
by Blade of Justice
Summary: It's Valentines Day in Gamindustri, and for the CPUs and Candidates, that means it's time to battle it out for shares more than ever. Except for one problem. One Candidate doesn't quite feel like taking part in the "publicity stunt," and besides, she has other plans...


It was Valentines Day in Gamindustri. All across the land, couples were spending time together, hopeful singles were looking to find that special person to spend the day with, and lonely gamers were spending their time with each other complaining on the internet. All was well and as it should be on such an occasion.

At a glance anyway.

When it came to Valentines Day, the four CPUs couldn't sit back and relax like they normally would. For on a holiday like this, there were shares to be gained, and no one wanted to be out of the action.

No one except one certain CPU Candidate, anyway.

"Uni! Now that this whole ASIC mess is done with, events like these are very important to get the world back in order!" It was rare to see Noire, Lastation's normally calm CPU, raising her voice at her younger sister. However, Uni was being particularly unhelpful today, and it was such an important day too... Still, Noire knew Uni was young, and yelling got her nowhere. She sighed in exasperation. "Why can't you understand that? I thought you understood this sort of thing now."

That last comment hurt. After finally gaining her sister's approval, did Noire now feel like she had misjudged Uni? Because of... because of something trivial like this?

"I just think it's so demeaning!" Uni cried, crossing her arms and turning away from her sister. Partly to show her disagreement, partly to hide how hurt she was thanks to her sister's words. "We should get to spend the day with someone we care about, not doing some... Some embarrassing publicity stunt!"

Noire sighed again. The problem was part of her actually agreed with Uni's sentiments, but she knew that she couldn't afford to act on that. She would have been happy to take Neptune up on that invitation to her party under normal circumstances, but she couldn't afford to do so. Lastation couldn't either, especially not during this crucial period of rebuilding.

Each nation was putting on a different event for the world today, taking their own spin on the holiday. It wasn't just to gain shares, but also to show the world that things were better now. That the people didn't have to worry anymore. Planeptune was throwing a party in the Neptower, Lowee was having an ice festival, and Leanbox was offering a date with its very own CPU... in an online game, admittedly, but the people were fired up all the same.

Noire had decided the best course if action would be to get up close and personal with the people if she wanted to make an impact. She had decided she would personally hand out chocolates, as if the people receiving them were the objects of Noire's affections. Naturally, this meant Uni was supposed to go along with it too.

"You know just as well as I do that this isn't just a 'publicity stunt,' Uni," Noire finally told her sister, stepping around the younger girl to look her in the eye. She always found these sorts of things hard to do, the whole older sister thing was something she was always so careful about, but right now, the people had to be her priority. She could make it up to Uni later.

Uni looked away purposely, finally settling to look at the floor. She did know that, she knew it better than most in fact. She knew the point here was a good one, she just...

"Why this?" Uni asked quietly. "Why do we have to do all of this for complete strangers? Shouldn't we save it for someone special? It's not like it will matter to them, and then they'll get to go on with their day while we're stuck with giving out more chocolate to strangers all day."

Under normal circumstances, Noire might have blushed or gasped at the fact that Uni might be thinking along those lines... Or maybe she might have scolded her or tried to be a proper big sister in any number of ways. But today, she had very clear priorities, and she couldn't betray them. So instead, she closed her eyes and shook her head.

"To those complete strangers, think about what it would mean to get something from their CPU or CPU Candidate. It might not seem special to you, but that's the kind of thing they'll remember for the rest of their life." Noire paused, thinking over her next words carefully. She couldn't completely prioritize the people over her sister, after all. She loved Uni too much for that. Offering her sister what she hoped was a comforting smile, she stepped back. "Okay, look, you don't have to come if you don't want to. I won't force you... But I think you know how important this is, and I know you've grown up enough to make the right choice."

With that, Noire walked away. True to her word, she had no intention of pushing the subject any more. Uni would make her decision and that would be that. Noire sincerely hoped she could place her faith in Uni to make the right decision here, but she couldn't spend all day arguing about it. There were more important matters to attend to.

Uni bit her lip as she watched her sister go. She hadn't expected that. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what she had expected. She had hoped her sister had see it her way and they could do something more sensible, or maybe not do anything at all. This just... She knew Noire was right, but she didn't like it!

Most of all, though...

Uni shot a glance towards the kitchen.

There was something in there that she had gone to a lot of trouble to make.

She had made a real effort hiding it from Noire and Kei what she had been up to. Part of why she didn't want to be part of this, childish as it might have been, was that she had a very specific person she wanted to give chocolate too today. Giving it to anyone else... It just didn't seem like it would be fair to them. They deserved better.

"I can at least make sure it gets where it needs to be..." Uni decided after a few moments of consideration. Maybe... Maybe she could even talk to them about this whole situation and see what they thought. Once they got Uni's chocolate first, anyway.

It was decided. The event would be going on all day, so if, for some crazy reason, she decided to help her sister, she would definitely be able to make it in time. For now... For now, she had something more important to do.

* * *

As expected, Uni had had little trouble entering the building. It hadn't been used for months, after all. Not since those terrible battles with the Deity of Sin. On the bright side though? All of that made it the perfect spot for a rendezvous... not that she could really do this elsewhere. It had to be here. It couldn't be anywhere else.

"Excuse me..." Uni murmured quietly, even though she knew no one was working here to stop her. The monsters, at least, had been cleared out of here some time ago, and it was only a matter of time before the building was either put back into use or torn down. She wouldn't be able to keep doing this for much longer.

Knowing that, she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

Uni shifted the bundle in her arms awkwardly as she walked. She couldn't think about that now! Not when she had such an important meeting to get to...

The CPU Candidate made her way through the building quietly and quickly, with a clear destination in mind. Her quick footsteps made slight echoing noises in the abandoned factory, but she paid it no mind. No one that didn't need to hear would hear, and if the person she was meeting knew she was coming, that just meant she couldn't surprise them. She wasn't really the type for that anyway.

As she walked, she idly wondered what they would think. Would they be expecting chocolate from her? ... Well, why else would Uni want to meet on Valentines, even when all of the CPUs and Candidates should be busy working?

Would they accept them though...?

Uni hoped so. She had put her heart into making these. They deserved that much.

Uni swallowed as she came upon an area of the factory unlike the others. It was, in fact, just like the others, but to her... It was much different. It held much more meaning.

"Here we go..."

At long last, though in actuality it had probably been a rather quick walk to her destination, Uni arrived at the meeting place. It was their usual meeting place, and with good reason.

"Hi Brave."

It was the only place they could meet.

It was the place where they had fought last, when he had still been himself. It was the place where they had laid everything on the line. It was the place where she had tried to convince him, tried to talk sense to him...

It was the place where she had killed him.

Uni's steps became slow and gentle, timid even. Where he had laid in death was now a makeshift grave, one Uni herself had made over time for the fallen CFW, though it honestly pained her to consider him as the same kind of being as the other three had been. He had been... good. Misguided, guilty of wrongdoing for sure, but still... He had been good.

He HAD been. Now... Now he wasn't anything anymore.

"Bet you didn't think I would come today, huh?"

Uni tried to smile at the grave, and for her part, managed something that at least looked moderately pleasant. She made her way over to it, finally sitting down right beside it. As if she was sitting down with him, rather than some meaningless, glorified marker that just acknowledged that she had killed someone who had, in their own misguided way, just been trying to make people happy.

"I brought you something. Here."

Uni gently placed the efforts of her hard work on top of the grave. It was a large piece of chocolate wrapped in colorful paper, topped off with a ribbon surrounding it to keep the wrapping tight. She felt a myriad of emotions wash over her in that moment, and she couldn't help but look away, a weak laugh escaping her lips.

"Probably doesn't make up for killing you... But I hope you like it."

A beat. She should probably change the subject now. She doubted he enjoyed it much when she lamented this.

"I couldn't think of anyone else I would rather give that to... No, no that's not right. I made it for you. Just for you. I wanted to do that for you, I mean... Oh, you know what I mean!"

Now leaning against the grave, as if she were leaning against him, Uni closed her eyes. She shook her head, taking in a breath to calm herself down. She always started off jittery, but she also always calmed down. For some reason, his "presence" did that to her.

"I've said it before, but since I'm giving you this, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Okay? Doing that to you... I... I don't regret it. We stood on opposite sides, and only one of us could keep standing. You made that clear."

The CPU Candidate pulled her legs close her her, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head on top of her knees. She looked rather helpless at that moment, and she certainly felt that way for sure.

"I just... I just wish it could have been different, Brave."

Uni paused. Hesitant. She had come here often, spoke to him so often, but she hadn't said everything before. She had vented to him, she had even berated herself to him... As if doing so might excuse what she had done. But there were some things she had never told him. Maybe this time she could?

She was at least going to try.

"Did you have to be so stubborn? Things could have been different, you know? You and me... We could have made a lot of people happy together. We didn't have to be on opposite sides like that!"

Uni clenched a fist, her teeth grit. Had she said this then, would things have been different? Would he have even cared?

"Maybe you wouldn't have. Maybe you would have thought I was just being selfish or naive or something. My sister certainly seems to think so..."

For a moment, Uni was silent. She would have liked to think Brave would have thought better of her. She would have liked to think that somewhere, he too wanted her to agree with him, so they could work together towards a common goal. Just as she felt about him.

Thinking of Noire's words again, a stray thought crossed Uni's mind, and before she knew it, she laughed. Loudly too. She couldn't stop herself.

"Hey, Brave? Get this. Today, we have to give out chocolates to people today. Well, I don't have to, it was Noire's idea... But don't you think that's strange? Isn't it kind of demeaning? Plus, isn't it wrong to lie like that and manipulate the feelings of the people? So what if they're happy about it? Isn't it all just a big lie...?"

As Uni spoke, she tried to imagine what Brave might do in her position. When she had first considered Brave and her "Valentines duty," she had thought the idea was funny. Brave, passing out chocolates? Now that was a riot!

And yet... As she finished speaking, she realized something that made her feel very ashamed of herself. She realized Brave certainly wouldn't think of her as an equal if he could hear her now.

"You... You would probably do it, wouldn't you? If it made people happy, you wouldn't think twice about it."

Uni pursed her lips, feeling incredibly shallow about her previous actions now. She knew Brave, "evil" as he was, would still prioritize the happiness of those he wanted to make happy above his own ego. It was part of what had drawn her to him in the first place, part of what had made her realize he was... different from the other three felons.

"You must think I'm an awful person."

There was a brief pause as Uni considered the pointlessness of the statement.

"Well, of course you do. You're dead because of me after all. It would be strange of you to not feel that way about me."

A dry laugh escaped Uni's lips.

"Well that's just too bad for you... Maybe I just want to be forgiven and I'm deluding myself, or maybe not, but you know what? I... I don't feel that way about you at all. I don't think you're awful, even if the whole wide world does. No one can change my mind on that."

She smiled softly. It was a sad smile, in a way, because it wasn't just that she had killed him. It was that she was sitting here, talking to an empty room and hunks of metal like it meant anything.

She wanted to think it did.

"And I'll keep coming to see you until I'm sure you know that that's how I feel."

Nodding to herself, Uni looked towards the ceiling. Speaking of "here," come to think of it... It was a really drab place to have to keep coming back to, wasn't it?

"Would you still come if I moved your grave somewhere else? I mean... If you're still even here. I-I'd like to bring you closer to home."

Wait, that sounded completely wrong! He would totally get the wrong idea now!

"I mean, b-because we have a nice view and stuff! That's why!"

Although there had yet to be any response yet, the silence now was all the more prominent. Uni blushed lightly, a frown crossing her delicate features. One minute ago she had been berating herself for talking to nothing, now she was acting like all of Gamindustri had heard her.

She decided that this meant it was time to go and stood up, looking towards a window. The day was still young. Noire had probably only just gotten started. Uni could still make things right.

She could still make Brave proud.

"W-Well anyway, whatever I do with you, I'll figure it out another day! I can't stay for much longer, I need to go help my..."

As Uni turned to say goodbye, she gasped.

Sitting on top of the grave, where she had left it, was the parcel she had left for Brave just a few moments earlier... or at least the remnants of it. For instead of a wrapped piece of chocolate, Uni was instead looking at empty wrapping, torn open, without a trace of the chocolate it had once contained in sight.

Uni looked around, her heart racing. Looking back and forth, she gently reached for the empty wrapping paper. She hadn't seen anyone or anything come in here, and there wasn't a trace of another living thing in sight.

She held the material close to her chest, a smile growing on her lips as two small tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Thank you Brave."

Putting the wrapper away for safekeeping, Uni wiped at her eyes as her smile began to grow into a confident grin. She could do this. No, she WOULD do this!

"I won't let you down...! I'll make twice as many people happy, enough for both of us! Just you watch!"

As Uni left the factory at top speed, her sights set on where her sister was giving out chocolate to the masses, she could have sworn she heard a voice echo after her as she left. She couldn't quite catch the words, yet they made her feel warm inside all the same.

But... She had probably just been hearing things...

Right?


End file.
